Porvorim: BJP Goa president Vinay Tendulkar has stated that December is not the right time to hold assembly elections as many events, such as the Old Goa feast, Christmas, Sunburn, are celebrated that month.
“The BJP is of the opinion that the election should be held in the last week of January or first week of February 2017. The BJP will continue to have an alliance with the MGP and Goa Vikas Party and will support independent candidates. BJP is hopeful of winning 26 seats in the election,” said Tendulkar at a press conference in Mapusa on Monday.
He further said that the State government had taken the decision to reclassify the coconut tree after consulting the farmer fraternity. He stated, “If a coconut tree gets infested with mites, then it needs to be destroyed immediately to prevent the spread of mites to other trees. The decision has been taken in the interest of the farmers and not to help any brewery or industrialist or builders. The State government distributes nearly 40,000 coconut saplings every year to the general public free of cost. The government also gets about 25,000 saplings from Chennai and Kerala every year, which yield around 300 coconuts per year.”
Regarding government jobs for minority communities, Tendulkar claimed that the youth of such communities were not interested in joining the police department (general category), transport corporation, home guard, etc. He added, “They prefer to go abroad on ships or to work in the accounts department or become police sub-inspectors.”
Tendulkar also claimed that the BJP had enrolled 4.6 lakh people as primary members of the party and Sukhaji Naik had been selected as president of the North Goa District Committee.
The other main members are Vaidehi Naik, Rajsing Rane, Deepak Kalangutkar and Shubhada Sawaikar (vice presidents); Hemant Golatker, Vasudev Parab and Gurudas Pawaker (general secretaries); Prasad Bhandare, Carmeline Franco, Dayanand Karbotkar and Pratiksha Mayekar (Secretaries); and Satish Madkaiker (treasurer).
